This lyrical documentary, filmed over seven years, portrays the connection between a mother and daughter who live in the mountains of Montenegro. Their remote existence as shepherds revolves around caring for their land and livestock, and each other. The profound tenderness and openness that exists between the two women is revealed in the director and cinematographer’s close, careful attention to both their exchanges and the detailed textures of their lives—the knotty fabric of a bedspread, a matted thatch of cow hair, granular curds of homemade cheese. To Hold a Mountain finds the pair on the cusp of change: Nada is leaving for school, a transition her mother both celebrates and grieves, as Gara leads her community in a fight to stop NATO from using their land as a military training site. As the pair navigate these transitions and challenges, a quiet mystery simmers in the background— we come to learn that events in the past are key to understanding the complexities, and the depth, of their bond in the present. ST